What is fiber optic

Fiber is short for optical fiber, which is a kind of fiber made of glass or plastic and can be used as a light transmission tool. The transmission principle is "total reflection of light".
In 2022, single crystal organic metal perovskite optical fibers were first made.
invention
One day in 1870, British physicist Tindall went to the lecture hall of the Royal Society to lecture on the principle of total reflection of light. He conducted a simple experiment: drilling a hole in a wooden bucket filled with water, and then illuminating the water from the top of the bucket with a lamp. The result surprised the audience. People saw that the glowing water flowed out of the small hole in the bucket, and the water curved, and the light also curved along with it. Surprisingly, the light was captured by the curved water.
People have once discovered that light energy travels along the fine stream of wine spouted from the barrel; It was also found that light energy moved along the curved glass rod. Why is this? Is the light no longer straight in? These phenomena attracted the attention of Dingdall, and after his research, it was found that this is the effect of total reflection of light [2]. Due to the higher density of media such as water than surrounding substances (such as air), that is, light shoots from water to air. When the incidence angle is greater than a certain angle, the refracted light disappears and all light is reflected back into the water. On the surface, light seems to bend forward in the current of water.
Later, people created a glass fiber with high transparency and a thickness similar to spider silk - glass fiber. When light enters the glass fiber at a suitable angle, it moves forward along the curved glass fiber. Because this fiber can be used to transmit light, it is called optical fiber.